The tapping didn’t disappeared though.
I turned my head to look at the window and found a raven tapping on the glass.
I opened the window and saw a pouch attached to its foot.
I took the pouch gently off and found a dead mouse with the note. I opened the note.
“Can you meet me tomorrow at midnight down by the creek running behind your manor? Two days are too long. PS. The dead mouse is for the raven. Watch out, he likes to nip.” I picked the dead mouse up by its tail and the raven grabbed it from my hand.
“How rude, you should be ashamed of yourself.”
The raven didn’t pay me any attention as he gobbled up his reward for a letter well delivered.
I scribbled on a notepad. “Very adventurous Louie. As long as we don’t hunt dragons, I’m in.” I folded it and put it in the raven’s pouch and the bird flew off.
I giggled like a school girl at how fast I was falling for a royal. One that didn’t seem like a royal, but rather a very sophisticated gentleman.
But a horrible fear crept into my stomach. What if he isn’t like the Louie in my mind? What if he is like his brother Charles, and just knew how to hide it well.
Not being able to truly trust someone was difficult and it was so hard for us dragons. Dragons tended to love hard, care deeply and our emotions were on a stronger level than normal humans. Father had warned me about this so many times and not to fall for a human.
I needed to be careful and I hoped sooner or later, Louie’s true colors would show.
* * *
LOUIE
* * *
I had to get away.
Charles had been drinking all night, pushing himself into my room, wanting to fight over Guinevere again.
But father didn’t want to hear anything about it this time.
He saw my victory as fair, and there would be no more challenges for a lady that Charles could never have.
For this, Charles loathed me and I knew it was only the beginning.
His obsession with Gwen was going to be another wedge to drive us further apart.
I was actually worried about what would happen to her when I went back to school.
What if her father was away with my father, on some crazy dragon hunt, leaving Gwen and her mother vulnerable?
I would kill Charles myself if he ever touched her. Especially the way he had that day in the hallway.
I had seen the fear in her eyes, but then again, she wasn’t truly afraid of dragons so I could’ve misinterpreted that fear too.
When Charles was finally out of my room, I locked the door and fell on my bed just thinking about Gwen.
She was so different from all the other girls I knew.
She definitely had a mind of her own and no filter on her mouth either. She spoke openly about things she shouldn’t, especially to me, but she wasn’t afraid of me. She was brave and I guess I understood why Charles was the way he was when it came to her.
She wasn’t just the girl of my dreams. She was the girl of every man’s dreams.
She reminded me a lot of Rebecca, a fiery redhead that had sparred against me time and time again during fencing training.
She had a thing for me too, but I wasn’t that interested in fiery redheads.
She was fair skinned, her beauty reminded me at times of an autumn morning, possessed the same strong qualities as Gwen, but sometimes she would say things that made me shiver. Rebecca was straight forward and didn’t care what anyone thought about her. That part reminded me a lot of Gwen, but Gwen wasn’t as direct as Rebecca. She had class, and it was driving me insane.
Two days was going to be so long.
Two days ...what was I thinking.
I got up, ran to the raven quarters located up in the west wing and scribbled out a note. I put it in the pouch and told him to take it to Philip’s mansion. Guinevere’s room.
The raven’s knew the Horsted mansion well. I hoped he knew Gwen’s room too.
I hoped she said yes.
I waited for the raven to come back, praying that the dead mouse inside wouldn’t frighten her, but then again, not even dragons frightened her, so what chances did a small dead mouse have.
Time ticked by slowly, but finally the raven came back.
I opened the pouch and found a small note.
I gave him a dead mouse from the tin and he gobbled it down fast before I opened the note.
He sure was greedy.
I smiled as I read how adventurous she thought I was and that as long as we don’t hunt dragons, she would be there.
I couldn’t wait to see her again.
The next day Charles had a huge hangover.
He couldn’t even look at me or father or mother for that matter, and stayed in his room most of the day.
Father didn’t care and I prayed that his feelings for Gwen would die as he would be king one day. Kings always got what they wanted while crown princes still had limits put on their desires.
I spent half of the day in the library just reading my favorite book.
It wasn’t based on reality, but it was about a great king and his crusade. He saw everyone as equal and was just, fighting for his people. The realm of Camelot.
Charles and father could learn plenty from King Arthur, whether it was fictitious or not. Arthur had plenty to teach kings.
Around twilight I put the book back on the shelf and went to dinner.
Charles finally emerged from his room and joined us but he had sulked the entire evening and I felt sorry for Magdel again, how he dismissed and ignored her.
Everyone dismissed and ignored her.
But Charles was the worst. He was so cruel to his future bride and our future queen.
The evening crept past slower than usual but when the time came, I sneaked out to the stables, mounted a horse and left for the creek running behind the manor.
Gwen wasn’t there yet and I waited by the big oak tree nearby.
I watched the horse in the moonlight chewing on some grass and started to wonder after a while if Gwen was going to show or not.
The night was so peaceful. I listened to the crickets chirping and the nightcrawlers scurrying around looking for their next meal.
“Boo!”
I jumped and her laughter filled the night. Soft laughter making me smile like an idiot. She was stealthy.
“I didn’t think you were going to show.” I said as I got up. “Something tells me this isn’t your first time strolling in the moonlight either.”
“No, it’s not. The night is my friend. It’s the daylight that I have a bit of a problem with.”
“You really are not afraid of dragons, are you?”
“No,” she chuckled. “I’ve learned that if you don’t go looking for trouble, it won’t come looking for you.”
“So have you ran into dragons before?”
“No, I haven’t.” She touched the tree. A superstition perhaps. “So why at night, Louie?”
“I couldn’t wait two days.”
She smiled broadly which made my stomach flip. She was really breathtaking in the moonlight too. It was as if her hair almost glowed.
“What?” She asked.
“Nothing, it’s just this moonlight is seriously highlighting your beauty Gwen. It’s so hard to look at you.”
She laughed softly. “I have to admit that I have never heard that one before.”
I chuckled. “I don’t want to be as corny as the other knights in shining armour in your life.”
“I haven’t had that many. My father is a very difficult man and I can almost bet that if you weren’t a prince, he wouldn’t have said yes to this courtship either.”
“Oh, so it is my royalty then?”
“For him yes, for me no. Your answer, that first day I saw you at the high tea, really impressed me.”
“I was upset, Gwen.”
“Exactly my point. The men that leave your father’s meetings might be sick, but they are never angry, Lou
ie.”
I sighed. “I told you before, I don’t agree with his obsession with dragons. It’s not healthy. And neither is my brother’s when it comes to you.”
“I know how to handle your brother, Louie. I have been dealing with him for a long time.”
“I bet you do.” I said, and lay down on the grass to watch the stars.
I tapped on the spot next to me and Gwen came to lay down too.
I showed her all the stars I knew, only to discover she knew more than me.
I felt like an idiot again, but not the type that she cowered away from. She laughed with me or at me. To be honest I didn’t care which it was. Her laughter was like music to my ears.
Time flew by fast as she wanted to know everything about me. We talked about lots of things too and then just like that, it came to an end.
I kissed her hand, as a farewell, but wanted it to be her lips so badly.
“Same time tomorrow?” She asked.
“I’ll be here.” I smiled at her and helped her climb back over the wall.
She blew me a kiss before she disappeared and it felt as if I was walking on clouds again.
I mounted my horse and went back to the palace. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow night.
Chapter 4
GUINEVERE
* * *
The one great thing about being a dragon is that we do not get tired that easily. We can go for days without sleep, but we do have to sleep at night, or pretend to be sleeping to protect our secret. We also live long, hundreds of years, sometimes thousands like Grandma Delilah. She wasn’t really mom’s mother. She had just helped raise her as it was the duty of the oldest female dragons in colonies to raise the young.
Dragon moms were almost never around when dragon eggs hatched. It was usually one of the older females that sat on them, unless they were banned from the colony like mom and dad. Delilah had left with us because she felt the reasons for our banishment were not fair. Just because Metallics felt different about our human forms didn’t mean we were any less dragon.
Delilah was more than eleven thousand years old. Almost reaching the twelve thousand mark.
She had raised King Louie and Prince Charles because she looked old and wise. After they were grown, she retired, at least for now.
She lived in a small cottage in the woods that not a lot of people knew about, and she visited us regularly.
I was sure that she would raise my dragons when the time came. If I ever met a dragon I wanted to be with.
When I reached the breakfast table nothing of last night’s courtship with Louie was evident.
I still felt as if I could go for days without sleep.
Tonight, I would meet him again and I hoped that soon after he would send another invitation to meet him at the palace again.
I would be really surprised if it was to any other place than the castle. Although I hated the castle, hated the darkness that flowed through the air and emanated from the dungeons.
It was hard to hear their cries.
Delilah had told me that it’s because the dungeon walls are so thick that sound isn’t able to leave, but I always felt the presence of a dragon whenever one was trapped below the castle.
Why did King Alexander hate our species so much? It didn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Louie thought it was because of a curse that had begun with an alpha that his forefather William had slaughtered.
He told me about it last night. The curse passed magically to the oldest son of the Malone bloodline, the one that would be king. That was why Charles was so evil and dark just like his father.
When William killed Quito, the people of Paegeia made him the king, and the curse would keep on passing from king after king until a royal brave enough could break it.
But how to break it, no one knew.
I liked that story for some odd reason. It meant that they weren’t truly cruel, that it was a darkness that was passed down from father to son, fueling them with hatred for our kind.
Would love be strong enough to break it?
I had no idea. But I liked that idea too. Love, the conqueror of all things dark. Just like in the books I read.
Mother thought they were just stories, that’s why love conquers all, but in real life, she said it didn’t work that way.
I don’t know. Love was powerful. Throughout the years it had been the cause of wars and peace. If it wasn’t that powerful, nothing would ever stop this ongoing war between humans and dragons.
My courtship with Louie was also flourishing now.
We met every single night at our spot.
I really didn’t know how he kept up with it. Every night my love grew deeper and deeper for him.
I knew he would never love me on the same level as it was not normal for them. Their love wasn’t as deep as dragons’ love. We did everything tenfold.
Mother and father were also worried about me being the one that would get hurt. But I knew that Louie wasn’t like that.
I wished I could tell him my secret.
I still had dreams of him finding out what I was, and every time his mouth opened that horrible clucking sound would escape.
It wasn’t just the raven’s beak tapping on the window, and I honestly had no idea how to interpret the dream.
Did it mean that he wouldn’t love me if he discovered the scales I hid?
Would he betray me if he discovered my secret?
This was the main reason I couldn’t tell him.
It was time to meet him again and I slipped out of my window.
I found him skipping stones in the moonlight.
It was such a beautiful night and a part of me was going to miss him terribly when he went back to school.
I sneaked up behind him and covered his eyes.
He didn’t even flinch anymore, just started to laugh.
He grabbed both my hands and turned around.
I had gotten very comfortable with him touching me too.
“What took you so long my lady.”
“So sorry to keep you waiting my prince.” I whispered and our lips touched.
My stomach bounced every time he kissed me and a warm feeling heated up my core as our kiss deepened.
It always happened and it was hard to remember that I wasn’t human, to act human and break the kiss.
I knew getting too close to Louie was dangerous, but he was everything my heart had ever wanted.
Delilah had told me about dragon bonds. How strong their were, how unbreakable they were, and I wondered if it was possible to share that type of bond with a human too.
If it was, I was certain that Louie and I could.
“So, how was your day?” He asked as my head rested against his lips, my eyes still closed, breathing in his scent. He smelled so wild, like a forest.
“It’s getting harder to not have you in them.” I said truthfully.
“I know what you mean.” There was a smile in his tone.
“I can’t phantom what it will be like when you go back to school.”
“It will be okay, Gwen. I’ll be back as often as I can. And when I am done, I won’t go anywhere but stay here with you.”
I liked that idea, actually loved it.
We sat down by our favorite tree and told each other about our day.
Even the boring things in Louie’s day seemed to cheer me up.
He loved to touch me. Especially my hands, and would occasionally hug me softly, keeping me warm. Not that I needed it. Dragons were always warm.
“You are always so warm.” He said. “Do you ever get cold?”
“What can I say, I’m a warm person.”
“That you are.”
“Do you have any idea where my father is?” I had asked him that every night we met. He shook his head.
“My brother left a few days ago.”
“What is it that they are doing Louie?”
“Don’t ask me that please. My father wasn’t happy that I didn’t join h
is crusade.” He sighed.
“Is it really that notorious.”
“It is. I don’t even want to think about it, what to say to you about it. I don’t know how anyone can hate something that much.”
“It’s not his fault, it’s a curse.” I said softly.
He hugged me tighter from behind and planted a kiss on my head.
“I truly hope you are right, Gwen.”
“It is. Dragons are magical Louie, we all know that. At least we know the curse cast by the alpha dragon is not one that can easily be broken. Promise me that no matter what happens, you won’t let the darkness pull you in.”
He laughed. “It hasn’t pulled me in yet. I haven’t even felt it. It’s just the kings and besides, you are with me. As long as you are with me, nothing dark will ever take me away.”
I loved everything that came out of his mouth and I turned around to kiss him again.
It was one of my favorite things to do too, kissing him.
The kisses lasted until he breathed heavily and then I pretended to be out of breath too and it would stop.
“Sorry,” he apologized. I blushed as it wasn’t him that should do the apologizing. I was getting greedier each day knowing that the days before he departed were growing fewer fast.
He would leave again and I would stay behind.
We both started to laugh as he struggled to control his breath but finally he managed.
“Walk with me?” he asked and I nodded.
We got up and walked through the forest. It was so beautiful with the fireflies lighting up the way.
It was so peaceful too.
I froze when I heard a noise and I saw Louie heard it too.
“What is that?”
“Please, let’s just go.”
“C’mon, Gwen, where is your adventurous side?” He took me by the hand and dragged me toward the noise.
“Louie.” I started to beg softly. It wasn’t safe. I knew that sound. It was a dragon, one that wasn’t of my breed and one that would attack if it came down to it.
He didn’t listen to me as we ran through the forest.
A part of me wanted to see how he would react, but another part was so afraid that this could turn out very wrong, like what had happened in my dream.
Playing With Fire Page 4